Welcome to the FPMDI!

Our projects include:

Marketing Practices in the Urban and Reclaimed Wood Industries

Objective: Analyze marketing practices utilized by firms in the urban and reclaimed wood industries to provide marketing strategy recommendations and help grow an industry that utilizes raw materials often discarded or underutilized. Researchers are in the process of developing a database to increase access to and utilization of urban wood resources. 

Marketing and Management of Forest Products

Objective: Assist small businesses in identifying best practices and market development opportunities to fuel utilization of urban forest resources and international trade, carried out through development of two industry-specific marketing guides. 

Increasing Minnesota's Wood Products Exports to South America

Objective: Identify value-added products with the highest potential in South American markets and provide resources to manufacturers and distributors interested in increasing their sales to the region, enhancing the economic competitiveness of the Minnesotan forest products industry by increasing wood harvest and generating employment.

Status of Cross-Laminated Timber

Cross laminated timber has been extensively studied in three different projects, each with different purposes to achieve the following objectives:

  • Create an easily accessible knowledge database, to access and share information about Massive Timber (Cross-Laminated Timber, CLT).
  • Conduct research into the level of awareness, perceptions and willingness to adopt CLT by U.S. architectural, engineering, construction and building development firms.
  • Survey experts in Europe, Asia, Oceania and Latin America to learn about their current level of awareness of CLT, major barriers to adoption, and pressing research needs.

Perceptions about Thermally‐Modified Wood Products 

Objective: To study consumer behavior, perceptions, barriers to acceptance, and willingness to pay for thermally‐modified wood (TMW) products.